Despite the lack of user guidance, this video-file downloader is easy to set up and use. VDownloader's interface is on the plain side and no Help file is offered, but it shouldn't take most users long to get the hang of downloading videos from their favorite sites.

The interface contains four large icons: Download, Search, Browser, and Settings. By default, VDownloader is set to monitor the clipboard when it's running, so as soon as we copied the link to a video, the program responded and asked us for Save As information. It's a small thing, but some programs don't allow you to choose a file name up front and it can be hard (without opening each file) to know what video you've downloaded if the file name is auto-assigned. The download began immediately after choosing the file name and location. You also can change this setting and manually paste a video link in to the URL field, but we preferred the time-saving clipboard monitoring step. VDownloader also lets you select the format you want to save video files in, another nice touch. Options include AVI, MP3, iPhone/iPod compatibility, and the original format.

The free program includes two useful extras. The first is the Search capability, which allows you to enter a video name and simultaneously search YouTube, Daily Motion, Google, and Yahoo Video. You can uncheck any of the four sites, but you aren't allowed to add any extras. The second extra is a built-in browser, which doesn't have any of the niceties you'll find in Firefox or Internet Explorer, but does include more than 20 bookmarks to video sites and a quick Download Video button for when you find a file you want to save. We recommend this free, easy-to-use video file downloader for any user.

Download (5.06MB)


* Reviewed by: CNET staff
* Reviewed on: February 23, 2009
* Version reviewed: VDownloader 0.83

This simple freeware application works pretty well, given how basic the interface is. It has two main features: to download FLV files from YouTube, and to convert them to most major formats. If there's a YouTube URL in your clipboard, it will automatically paste it for you when you click on the dialog box. From there, just hit OK and the downloading will commence. One more left-click is all it takes to load the file in the converter, which supports iPhone, iPod, PSP, cell phone, AVI, MP3, WMV, and Xvid. Surprisingly, there's also a basic video editor for cropping videos by time stamp. You can also cut out the sound when converting.

This is one of the lightest editors around, but the simplistic interface belies its functionality and it performs exactly as advertised. We'd like to see support in future editions for hunting down missing codecs, and version 2.1.5 and earlier won't work because of embed code changes on YouTube itself. Still, the YouTube Downloader is proof that not only is video-making accessible to everyone, so is video downloading and editing.

Download (3.03MB)


* Reviewed by: CNET Staff
* Version reviewed: YouTube Downloader 2.1.7

Downloading videos, Flash games, and large batches of files is greatly simplified with this freeware download manager, but Firefox users may have difficulty with integration.

Orbit's primary interface is bland, but the basic toolbar and info boxes guarantee everything is easy to find. Orbit shines with Internet Explorer integration. To get a media file, simply right-click a video or photo and choose Download from your context menu. Grabbing a Flash game is even easier. Hover over a Flash file, and Orbit displays a button for a fast download.

Fast and small are key traits of this application. It uses a bare minimum of memory, and downloads are much faster than with a browser alone. Where Orbit shines is its one-button simplicity for downloading multiple files on a site. From there, you can easily filter for file type. Orbit's numerous configuration options make it one of the more flexible download managers available.

Although designed to integrate with the IE, Firefox, Opera and Maxthon, we had great difficulty getting Orbit to work seamlessly with Firefox. We finally gave up trying to get the Flash download feature to work. Nevertheless, anyone downloading large numbers of files will find this freeware indispensable.

Download here (2.17MB)


* Reviewed by: CNET staff
* Reviewed on: November 7, 2008
* Version reviewed: Orbit Downloader 2.8.13